AGRA Watch is a campaign of Community Alliance for Global Justice

In March, a group of social movements, grassroots organizations, and civil society organizations met in Tunis to oppose the G8 “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.” The New Alliance, which was launched in 2012 by the G8 and has been implemented in ten African countries, is based on the simplistic and familiar idea that corporate investment in agriculture will increase yields, and that this increased production will alleviate food insecurity and malnutrition in Africa. The alliance marginalizes small-scale farmers and local markets by encouraging investment and empowering already powerful corporations to ease export controls and tax laws, change seed laws, and acquire public land for private use, while threatening biodiversity and soil fertility.

AGRA Watch and its partners know that solving the problem of malnutrition in Africa is not as simple as unleashing “the power of the private sector,” and that addressing food and nutrition insecurity in Africa requires the promotion of a community controlled agricultural system based on human rights and food sovereignty.

To learn more, read this statement, which has been endorsed by more than 100 organizations, including CAGJ, and calls on governments to stop the G8 “New Alliance for Food Security & Nutrition in Africa.”

An example of the Alliance’s problematic tactics is demonstrated in a study recently published by the Oakland Institute, GreenPeace, and Global Justice Now, which discusses one of the Alliance’s showcase projects, a rice plantation in Tanzania that has negatively impacted farmers, surrounding communities, and the ecosystem.

Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) is a project financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to the tune of US $85 million. The project attempts to increase production of maize in Sub Saharan Africa through the provision of drought resistant maize varieties. The program has two major components: a conventional hybrid maize breeding program, and a program that focuses on creating GM drought-tolerant maize varieties. In addition, the project is working to establish acceptance of GM crops throughout Africa.

In a recently published , AGRA Watch partner, the African Center for Biodiversity (ACB) indicates that WEMA and other Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) projects provide only false solutions to the impacts of climate change on agricultural production in Sub Saharan Africa. To support this argument, the ACB cites insignificant yield increases from the use of GE crops, and the problems associated with the privatization of Africa’s seed systems, which WEMA and other CSA inspired projects depend on.

The report opens by providing context regarding the divergence of opinion when it comes to promoting agriculture in Sub Saharan Africa; It describes the environmentally sustainable, socially just, and democratic approach, which has been termed “food sovereignty”; while the alternative, “Climate Smart Agriculture” is described as “an updated green revolution model that relies on expensive and ecologically harmful inputs, GM crops and the ever increasing commodification of social and ecological relations.” WEMA is a prime example of “Climate Smart Agriculture,” and the ACB feels that it other CSA inspired projects will provide insignificant yield increases and have detrimental impacts on the continent.

In concluding, the report provides suggestions as to how the Gates Foundation and other donors should support agriculture in Africa; they suggest investing in the long-term monitoring of socio-economic and environmental impacts of hybrid and GM maize varieties, the prohibition of funding for GM crop research in Africa, increased interaction between farmers and the research sector, public-sector led research into crops that are naturally suited for dry climates, implementation and research of agroecological production, and transparency when it comes to access and benefit sharing of Africa’s rich biodiversity.

In February, Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) released a report investigating the strategic efforts by the US government, its sponsored programs, funders such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and agribusiness giants such as Monsanto to force GM technologies on the African continent. While these powerful players claim that GM technologies are key to addressing food insecurity in Africa, AGRA Watch and its partners know that this is not the case and fear that such technologies will harm African communities and the environment.

The report goes into detail discussing the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s aggressive promotion of GMOs in Africa. It provides statistics detailing the Gates Foundation’s biotech funding, which has gone largely to projects working to genetically modify staple food crops, as well as to projects that promote the importation, planting and commercialization of GMOs in Africa. Additionally, the report devotes a section to discussing the dangerous power that philanthropic projects can have in affecting the legal environment to suit the private sector. It uses the Gates Foundation and its funding of GM maize and banana projects as case studies, and discusses the many civil society concerns with both projects. The report notes the deception and pressure that the projects use to facilitate the private sector’s takeover of Africa’s food systems, and the resulting loss of food sovereignty, biodiversity, and small-scale farmers’ livelihoods. The report also cites the open letter sent by AGRA Watch partner, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, to the Gates Foundation as an example of civil society’s opposition to these projects, and encourages more action like this.

The report concludes by noting that despite the efforts of programs that undermine democratic processes and use public resources to fund private interests, small-scale farmers’ movements and African civil society can maintain a just food system by promoting policies that support food sovereignty.

At the end of January, while responding to a question posed at an event in Brussels, the principals of the Gates Foundation promoted the use of GMO seeds to fight malnutrition in Africa. Melinda Gates outlined the success that she believes GMOs can have in overcoming drought, flood, and climate change. Bill Gates followed and noted that despite concerns about the side effects of using GMOs, he believes the technology should not be prohibited and that “maybe” tests and trials should be run before their use. Maybe? AGRA Watch and its partners question their predictions of GMO success, as well as their flippantness in discussing the side effects of GMO use, which are widespread and far reaching.

In fact, there are numerous food safety, socioeconomic, and environmental questions that Bill and Melinda Gates seem to ignore while they promote the use of GM crops. With regards to the food safety of GMOs, this study published in Environmental Sciences Europe outlines the lack of scientific consensus on the subject, and rejects the claims made by GM seed developers that such a consensus exists. In addition to food safety concerns, AGRA Watch and its partners are extremely concerned about the socioeconomic consequences that GM seed usage will create in Africa. Will GMO distribution lead to monoculture? Will monoculture lead to unemployment, and increased poverty and malnourishment for a huge number of African farmers and families, who rely on small-scale, diversified agriculture for food and income? Where will these farming families go when they can no longer compete with the agribusinesses that arise? Will they migrate to already overpopulated cities? What impact will this forced migration have on the rest of the population? The questions are numerous, and the two principals of the Gates Foundation do not care to ask them. Lastly, by now we have numerous examples that the environmental consequences of GM seed usage are devastating; GM seeds promote the use of agrochemicals and fossil fuels, while destroying biodiversity.

In Brussels, Bill and Melinda Gates claimed that it is the Africans’ sovereign right to choose whether or not to use GM seeds. However, if the Gates Foundation is investing millions of dollars in agricultural strategies that rely heavily upon the use of GMOs, are the Africans really having a choice? Please follow this link to view the video and leave a comment or rebuttal expressing your concerns.

On March 3rd, AGRA Watch published a full report on the Africa-US Food Sovereignty Strategy Summit, which it hosted last October. The report describes the current and historical context of both US and African agriculture, as summit participants shared in the meetings. It also includes pieces of original research conducted by AGRA Watch on the Gates Foundation’s agricultural development grants, as well as a summary of the next steps participants are taking to form stronger relationships and to contest agro-industrial interventions in Africa.

Earlier this month, an article in the Des Moines Register announced the delay of Iowa State University’s human feeding trials of the genetically modified “Super Banana.” AGRA Watch and its partners have consistently raised concerns regarding the development of this GMO. We condemn the feeding trials because the human subjects are unlikely to be aware of the controversy surrounding this research, and are unlikely, themselves, to benefit; we also question the GMO’s supposed effectiveness in accomplishing its goal of preventing vitamin A deficiency. In the article, Tony Leys quotes a press release and open letter from AGRA Watch partner, the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, and discusses the controversy surrounding the genetically modified fruit.

Mariam Mayet, Director of South African-based AGRA Watch partner, the African Centre for Biosafety, is quoted in the article and makes clear her disappointment that the open letter was not met with a response or greater transparency from Iowa State.

Today, AGRA Watch partners, the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa and the US Food Sovereignty Alliance, released a press release discussing their open letter to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Wendy White from Iowa State University, and the Human Institutional Review Board of Iowa State University. The open letter, which is supported by more than 120 organizations from around the world, expresses widespread opposition to the Gates-funded human feeding trials involving genetically modified bananas.

Please find the press release and a link to the open letter below.

US Human Trials of GM banana for Africa Widely Condemned

Press Release issued by Alliance For Food Sovereignty In Africa and US Food Sovereignty Alliance

Kampala, Uganda and Seattle, Washington –

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is a Pan African platform comprising civil society networks and farmer organisations working towards food sovereignty in Africa. Today it has submitted an Open Letter to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Wendy White from Iowa State University and the Human Institutional Review Board of Iowa State University expressing fierce opposition to the human feeding trials taking place at Iowa State University involving genetically modified (GM) bananas.

The Open Letter is supported by more than 120 organizations from around the world. Farmers, advocates, consumers and other communities from the United States are represented, including the US Food Sovereignty Alliance (USFSA), FoodFirst, AGRA Watch/Community Alliance for Global Justice and La Via Campesina North America, as well as many from Africa, Europe, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Asia and Australia. Dr. Vandana Shiva, Dr. Jeanne Koopman, Dr. Eva Navotny and Professor Joseph Cummins are among the prominent scientists and academics also supporting the Open Letter.

The GM banana human trials are funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and carried out by Iowa State University under the leadership of Dr. Wendy White. The human subjects of these trials are young female students from Iowa State University. Scientists at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia developed the GM banana, also with funds provided by the Gates Foundation. Touted as a ‘Super Banana’ the GM banana in question, has been genetically modified to contain extra beta-carotene, a nutrient the body uses to produce Vitamin A. The results of the human trials are designed to support the release the GM bananas into Ugandan farming and food systems. According to Iowa State University, “Vitamin A deficiency is a major public health problem in Uganda and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and leads to decreased survival in children, impaired immune function and blindness.”

An outraged Bridget Mugambe, a Ugandan and AFSA Policy Advocate, says “Just because the GM banana has been developed in Australia and is being tested in the US, does not make it super! Ugandans know what is super because we have been eating homegrown GM-free bananas for centuries. This GM Banana is an insult to our food, to our culture, to us a nation, and we strongly condemn it.“

Iowa farmer George Naylor noted, “We’re told that GMOs are safe but we don’t even know if these genetically engineered bananas should be tested on humans. People who are malnourished need good food, not another public relations stint that clears the way for more corporate, patented, high-profit technologies.”

“As AFSA, we are vehemently opposed to GM crops. Africa and Africans should not be used as justification for promoting the interest of companies and their cohorts. We do not need GM crops in this changing climate. What we need is the diversity in our crops and the knowledge associated with them,” commented Dr. Million Belay, AFSA Coordinator.

AFSA, USFSA and others supporting the Open Letter have demanded that it be shared with the human subjects of the trials in the US.